Women and TV

Smith came into The Crown as a former Doctor Who, which producer Suzanne Mackie said is why he earned more than co-star Foy, despite her playing the lead role of The Queen. Still, producers plan to make sure that doesn't happen for the next group of actors playing the Royals. “Going forward, no one gets paid more than the Queen," said Mackie at the INTV conference in Jerusalem. As TV Line's Dave Nemitz points out -- calling the revelation "embarrassing" -- Foy was hardly an unknown in joining the Netflix series. She starred in the NBC drama Crossbones and played Anne Boleyn on PBS' acclaimed Henry VIII miniseries Wolf Hall. Alan Sepinwall, meanwhile, wonders if this is why producers seem to be more interested in Prince Philip than Queen Elizabeth II. "Sure, he's more famous than she is," Sepinwall says of Matt Smith. "But if you find yourself in a situation where you have to pay him more than her, find another actor. This looks bad and is bad. And speaks to the weird myopia of a show whose creator is bored by its main character."

Female directors who've directed big-screen movies are thriving on television -- and ironically, their TV work is getting them noticed by the film world. In the 14 years between Jenkins' acclaimed Monster and her second film Wonder Woman, she directed TV shows like Arrested Development, The Killing and Entourage.

Soaps, the rom-com, the romance novel -- "these are the genres that get dismissed as fluff," says Emily Nussbaum, "which is how our culture regards art that makes women’s lives look like fun. They’re 'guilty pleasures,' not unlike sex itself. Women use this language, too—even (Gina) Rodriguez, in interviews, has compared her show to red-velvet cupcakes and Justin Bieber. In fact, Jane the Virgin is more like a joyful manifesto against that very putdown, a bright-pink filibuster exposing the layers in what the world regards as shallow."

Allison Winn Scotch, a Bachelor franchise superfan until she quit watching five years, says "I found that I felt liberated from those two hours on Monday which fueled a certain toxicity in my life. What can I tweet that will be both hilarious and cutting and people will RT the most? I felt better about my place as a woman in the world, not snarking or disparaging other women in public (or at all) and not endorsing a show that got off on humiliating its contestants, especially the female ones. And this is only my sense and I speak only for me, but it’s tough to reconcile being a champion for #MeToo and Time’s Up and then frantically tweeting comments about other women every Monday evening."

On International Women's Day, Peyton Brown, who apparently has worked as a grip on the shows Stranger Things and The Walking Dead, posted her allegations on Instagram, writing: "I personally witnessed two men in high positions of power on that set seek out and verbally abuse multiple women. I promised myself that if I were ever in a situation to say something that I would." Brown didn't name the Duffer Brothers, but when asked in the comments, "are you talking about the duffers?" She replied: "yes, I am." She went on to further say "there was yelling, there were insults, there was threats and people were even fired or forced to quit because of them." TV Guide contacted Netflix for comment, but has not yet received a response.

Like McDonald's, MTV is flipping over its "M" to a "W" to celebrate women on this international holiday, while Freeform will carry a #NotSorry "meter" to count every time it bleeps a woman saying "sorry" throughout the day. CMT will celebrate with its first-ever "female music takeover," and Hulu is highlighting female-centric content on its homepage. Netflix, meanwhile, dropped Season 2 of Jessica Jones this morning in honor of International Women's Day, and after it midnight it will unveil David Letterman's interview with women's rights activist Malala Yousafzai on his talk show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

Author and TV critic Joy Press' Stealing the Show: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television chronicles 12 shows that revolutionized the way women are seen on TV, from The Mindy Project to Murphy Brown to Roseanne and New Girl. "The offerings by female showrunners and shows focused on the female experience were few and far between when I started out" writing about TV in 2000, says Press, "but around 2011 it felt like something changed and there was a flood of really interesting shows coming down the pipeline that had mostly female creators and an exciting range of female leads and female experience." ALSO: Read an excerpt from the book about "feminist hero" Murphy Brown.

Couric joked at a women in the workplace forum that her tombstone will read "Perky No More." Couric says she found the words "cute" and "perky" to be "marginalizing." She also recalled a CNN executive saying about her early in her career, "she's successful because of her hard work, intelligence and breast size."

"It's so fun to play," she tells Elle says of Quinn Perkins. "I mean, especially when you're 38 weeks pregnant. I feel really lucky that in this final season, Quinn has gotten to do a lot of heavy lifting. And I also just feel like it's such a testament to where I work. Because it's not like I told Shonda (Rhimes) I was pregnant and all of a sudden I'm completely written out, and being treated as if something was wrong. It's like, 'Oh, no, no. You're pregnant, now you're gonna run (Olivia Pope and Associates), and you're gonna be asked to do all these amazing things, because it's possible.' You can be pregnant, and be playing a pregnant character who's also a badass. And kicking a**, and taking names."

Wilson said earlier this week that she was making less than her male co-stars. When asked about her comments, West told Channel 4: “In fact she should get paid more because she won a Golden Globe for the part. There was absolutely no reason for her to get paid less than me, and that’s part of what is being hopefully confronted now. You can’t get away with it anymore and there’s no reason why a producer should get away with that.”

Menounos, who has worked for E! News, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Extra, cited LeBron James in defending E!'s unequal pay. "Sometimes there are those key players that are going to make more, who are seemingly doing the same thing, but have a bigger career, bigger name — a bigger name that they've built that is commanding of more money,” she tells the Associated Press. “So, there are going to be instances where it's not always equal.”

The Oscar winner posted a copy of the contract proposal on Instagram after rumors circulated that she had actually been offered $3 million. The proposal gave Netflix exclusivity over any future Mo’Nique comedy specials, at least for two years, while also restricting the use of her jokes.